Swimming in the dark

Its 300am...do YOU know where your aspiring Ironman Triathlete might be??

AWAKE!! Very awake!! UGH!! The two men of my household "sing" perfect harmony about this time...which keeps me awake. My 100lb golden retriever named Murphy snores almost as loud as my husband. As my eyes opened at 3am, I had to giggle as the dog would snore...and then my husband...and then the dog...and then...well..you get the idea!!

I take comfort in knowing that they are sleeping like rocks. Me...when I sleep...Im usually out..but this week has been a light week of workout so my eyes are open after 5 hours sleep. I decided to get up, make coffee and see what I could accomplish at this hour of the morning.

I am blessed with the fact that I have several places to workout around town. I belong to a fitness club just 3 minutes from my house, I have access to my old high school's aquatic center, I have an endless pool in my backyard pool AND I belong to the YMCA. I know..that's ridiculous but its called having your bases covered.

At 4am, I decided to find out who opened the earliest of all the venues. The YMCA Aquatic Center is open at 530am. The High School Pool at 6am. My endless pool is always an option but it would wake up my husband if I fired it up at this hour. Ahhh..but to my surprise, the fitness center near my house is open at 500am. The only drawback-the pool is outdoors.

I grab my gear and head out the door at 445am. My dog looks at me like I must be on crack. I swear he gave me that look of "You BETTER not be planning to take me for a walk at this hour"

I signed in at 501am and wrote "pool" next to my name. The attendant looked at me and said "You know..there is only one light in that pool...you'll be swimming in the dark." I told him that was ok and headed out to the pool deck. He looked at me like I had two heads.

There is something very peaceful about a pool that you have all to yourself. No fighting for lanes. No trying to figure out which lane is the slowest so you don't hold people up in their workout. I slipped into the water to find the temperature quite nice. This was an awesome idea.

I pulled out my workout sheet and laughed. No light to read it. I jumped out, ran over to the outdoor building light and read through Hector's idea of a aquatic good time and jumped back in.

An into the dark i went. You could see the wall but it was a very strange environment to swim in. I felt like I was back in blackwater scuba class with a partially blacked out mask. Heck, if I can scuba dive in zero visability, I can swim in this.

An hour and 30 minutes later, I jumped out of the pool quite satisfied that I had accomplished one of my two workouts for the day....all before 640am.

Thanks guys...I never thought i would be happy with your snoring :)